Una Mentira
by gigundoly
Summary: Tina is disappointed when Artie tells a lie of his own. Chapter Six: "You're still mad, aren't you?" Artie sighed. "I deserve it, Tee. That's partly why I was so determined to get back at Jacob. It was... a peace offering, I guess."
1. Me Gusta

Author's Note: My other story, Nine on the Line, lacks one or two chapters until it's finished, but the idea for this one has been floating around my head for awhile now. I couldn't wait to start posting. Enjoy!

* * *

Mr. Schuester's assignment was simple: Make a speech in Spanish about something you really enjoy. Artie Abrams could have talked about any number of things that brought him joy: Glee, jazz band, guitar, even Spanish class itself. He liked taking Spanish with Mr. Schuester because he'd started New Directions, the club that had changed Artie's life.

But not wanting to be predictable, Artie chose a different topic for his speech

"I _hate _public speaking," Tina complained, pushing Artie to Spanish class while he carried their books in his lap. Their presentations were due today and she was a nervous wreck. "Remember how I told you that public speaking was my whole reason for faking the stutter? Well, I'm sorry, but I think I feel a relapse coming on."

Artie was glad that they could talk openly about Tina's stuttering charade now without huge fights. (But if Artie was really honest with himself, it still bothered him a little.) Artie couldn't relate to Tina's severe shyness any more than she could relate to the confines of his wheelchair. After a long and difficult internal struggle, he finally decided to let it go. It wasn't worth ruining a friendship.

"Tee, you worry too much," Artie said, twisting in his chair to look up at her with his usual reassuring smirk. "But not everyone gets to present today. You can put it off another day, you know..."

Tina licked her lips. "I dunno," she sighed. "I might be better off getting it over with. Why is it that I can sing a solo in front of the whole school but I can't do this?"

They were interrupted by Jacob Ben Israel, who met them at the door, pushing a large TV and VCR on a cart. "You said you needed this now, right?" He looked harassed and annoyed, but as the newly-elected president of the AV Club, delivering televisions was part of the job.

"Got my tape right here," Artie patted the VHS tape sitting in his lap. Tina leaned around his chair, her jaw dropping as she noticed the tape for the first time and realized what it was for.

"Visual aids!" she exclaimed, wistfully. "Why didn't I think of that?" Tina smacked Artie's shoulder in annoyance. "Why didn't _you_ share your idea?" _Maybe Mr. Schuester would just let me tape the thing and stay home sick, _she thought, still looking for a way out of this.

"You'll see why I need it in a second," Artie promised. "I'm volunteering to go first. And _ow_, by the way." He rubbed his shoulder.

"Volunteering to go first," Tina muttered under her breath. "I don't believe you."

Mr. Schuester, hearing them as they entered the classroom behind Jacob and the TV, was all smiles. "I'd be delighted to have you go first, Artie."

"Suck up," Tina leaned over and whispered, before giving Artie's chair a hard push towards the blackboard. She turned and sulked, all the way to her desk. It was the Missouri Compromise in sixth grade all over again. _He's going to use up my topic and talk about Glee club. He's probably got a tape of us at Sectionals to talk about. _

Artie set the break on his wheelchair and took a few deep breaths, looking anxiously at the class. It didn't escape Tina's attention that Artie, who had no fear of public speaking, actually looked nervous today. She took note of the way he fidgeted with his gloves while waiting for Jacob to start the tape. A rare moment, but her usually brave and outgoing friend was definitely apprehensive about something.

"Me gusta... esquí." Artie tried not to feel ridiculous saying this from his wheelchair. He avoided looking any of his classmates in the eye, focusing on a spot on the wall instead. But he did briefly glimpse Mr. Schuester at his desk, leaning forward with interest.

As Artie spoke, his eight-year-old self came on the screen. He was on vacation with his family in Colorado, during one of the many holiday ski trips they'd taken. Eight-year-old Artie was fearless. He jumped from side to side on his skiis, traveling at top speed down a steep slope. Artie sprayed his sister with snow as he stopped, and she yelled at him to watch where he was going. "Watch this, are you getting this on tape, Dad?!" He gathered up speed, approached a small hill, and picked up his knees so that he was momentarily airborne before he landed flawlessly on his feet. Artie then skiied up to the camera, grinning like a Chesire cat and there could be no question that this was the young Artie Abrams. This was Artie before his paralysis, something no one in McKinley High School had ever seen.

"Mi hermana se trata de saltar, pero fracasa," Artie commented, as Amy Abrams then took a giant spill in the snow after a failed attempt at copying her younger brother. Only a few of his classmates laughed, a sure sign that the rest hadn't understood his Spanish.

"Eso bueno, Artie!" Mr. Schuester stood up and applauded when Artie finished giving his speech. Artie ducked his head shyly in appreciation and wheeled himself back to his desk. Tina's jaw was practically scraping the floor.

"Who's next?"

Artie's classmates slumped in their seats, not wanting to follow an obviously outstanding presentation. Rachel Berry was the only exception. She stood up confidently and made her way to the front of the class, dragging a rolling cart full of glittery posters. As she set them up, Artie watched Tina read them, mouthing the words, "New Directions." The largest poster boasted a picture of the club at Sectionals, surrounded by gold stars.

Tina turned a delicate shade of green.

* * *

"I have one day!" she complained to Artie, Mercedes, and Kurt at lunch. "One day to come up with a whole new speech because Rachel stole my topic. I should have _known _better than to write a speech about New Directions. But did I think of that? Oh, no, of course not..."

"Talk about your fashion sense," Kurt suggested, trying to be helpful. "I, for one, think its refreshing to see someone who isn't afraid to express her individually through her wardrobe. Although, if I were you, I'd go a little bit easier on the fishnets."

"Hey, I like her fishnet gloves," Artie piped up, smiling across the table at Tina. "I wouldn't change a thing."

"Let's not have any fashion advice from the suspenders-and-belt-wearer," Kurt admonished him.

Tina would have hurried to defend Artie's unimaginative yet adorable outfits, but there was one problem. She was still annoyed with him. It annoyed her that Artie never thought to pass on his idea for using a video in the speech to cut down on the amount of talking. This treachery was even worse than Rachel's A+ presentation about New Directions.

"Isn't there anything else you like to do?" Mercedes wondered aloud. "That's the topic, right? Any other hobbies? Shopping, sports, art..." Tina shook her head at each suggestion. "Damn girl. Well, I'd advise you to get more hobbies. In the meantime, nobody would know if you were lying, right?"

"I'm not sure I'm a good enough actress," Tina said, weakly.

"You fooled us all into thinking you stuttered for five years," said Kurt, innocently. When he caught sight of Artie's dark look, however, he blushed. "Oh, honestly, I thought you said you were over that..."

"I am," said Artie, a little too quickly. "Really I am."

"Speaking of speeches," said Mercedes, who wasn't in the same class as Artie, Kurt, Rachel, and Tina. "What's this I hear about your speech on skiing? I heard you showed a video and everything."

"Who... who told you that?" Artie glanced at Kurt, who shook his head in reply.

"Brittany mentioned it while we were in the lunch line," said Mercedes. "She said you had a video of yourself skiing with your family when you were a little kid. Is it really true?"

"It's not that unbelievable," Tina jumped to his defense. "Artie wasn't always in a wheelchair."

"Not about that," Mercedes shot Tina a rather withering look for being so touchy. _Enough already, _she thought. _Just declare your love for the boy and be done with it. _"I mean, about... about the accident. Is it true, Artie, that a skiing accident put you in the wheelchair?"

"WHAT?!" Tina burst out laughing. "Oh, that's rich! Is _that _what they're saying?"

Before Artie could reply, however, Noah Puckerman stopped by their table. Four pairs of eyes quickly trained themselves on Puck, all four faces astonished to see their friend from glee club standing within 100 feet from them outside of the choir room. Puck kept quiet about his participation in the club, although if directly asked about it, he'd say something like, _"Yeah, I'm in glee club. What's it to you, punk?"_

"H-hi Puck," Kurt stammered. "Nice hat."

"Yo, Abrams," he said, ignoring Kurt completely. Three of the four sets of eyes now trained themselves on Artie, who swallowed in fear. Puck had reached the point where he no longer sought Artie for patriotic wedgies or port-a-potty turnovers. But until now, there had _never _come a point where Artie had been called anything other than 'Wheels' or 'Wheelchair Kid.'

"So, I heard that snow skiing did that to you?" he asked, simply.

Tina thought she saw Artie glance her way before his answer. "Yeah," he replied. "It did."


	2. La Confesión

"He's a rotten liar," Tina complained to Mercedes who had graciously accompanied her friend to Biggby Coffee when they got out of school. Biggby's was close enough to walk to, which was good since neither girl owned a car.

Earlier that day, Mercedes had suggested that Tina use one of her childhood hobbies for the speech, since that was what Artie had done. Tina remembered taking tennis lessons when she was younger and, although she'd hated every minute of those lessons, she decided that this topic worked as well as any. Tina knew she would be lying when she told the class she liked playing tennis. _But if other people are allowed to lie, I can do it too, _she'd decided, bitterly.

"Cut Artie some slack," Mercedes begged, tired of her friend's ranting. She was beginning to wish she hadn't agreed to help Tina with her speech. "And could you forget about Wheels for awhile? I thought we came here because there's Wi-Fi and you can read about tennis. You do have to learn a few things if you want to sound convincing up there. Do you even know the Spanish word for tennis?"

"It's tennis," Tina said, flatly.

"Wrong!" said Mercedes. "Tenis. You don't pronounce it the same way. Come on, girl, quit trippin'!"

"Mercedes, he lied to Puck right in front of us," Tina blurted out, tears now stinging her eyes. Mercedes had opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again when she realized that Tina was about to cry. "I feel like I don't know him at all. I've never known Artie to lie just to get attention."

"Well, if that's what he did it for, so what?" said Mercedes, gently. "Think about how he feels for a minute and it just might start to make more sense. Did you hear Puck call him by his name? And not just his name, Tina, he called him by his _last _name. In a guy's language, that's showing major respect. If Artie wants to let Puck think that he got hurt in a skiing accident, so what? He's just trying to gain a little respect."

"This is worse than the time Mike Chang tried to convince Mr. Schuester we were related to get out of singing a ballad with me," Tina moaned. She scowled when Mercedes snickered at this.

"You seem awfully committed to the truth, Tina," Mercedes said, rather pointedly. Tina blushed, thinking she would bring up the stuttering, but Mercedes had another angle. "And yet you're willing to pretend you like playing tennis when I know for a fact you hate it. You told me in gym once, remember?"

"It's a harmless lie," Tina argued. "It's not the same."

"Don't you see?" Mercedes shook her head. "It _is _the same. Artie's lie is harmless, too! What does it hurt if he says he broke his back in a badass skiing accident to make himself look cooler? I think if it helps Artie get through the day without being picked on, then it's perfectly fine for him to say whatever he wants about it."

"It isn't like him to lie," Tina insisted. "You're missing the point. He never cared about being cool."

* * *

Tina decided to use the dreaded tennis speech as a vehicle for getting revenge. If Artie didn't pick up on to the fact that Tina ignored his multiple text messages the night before, he was sure to catch on today in class. Tina waited so that she was the last person to speak.

"M-m-m-mi pasa-pasa-pasa-tiempo pppppppredilecto es.... es... tenis."

She even paired the stutter with a repetitive hand movement to make it even _more _painful. She caught sight of Mr. Schuester looking bewildered, but avoided looking at anyone else in the room, especially Artie. Imagining the furious look on his face only made her want to stutter even more. She convinced herself that he deserved it. He shouldn't have lied to Puck to make himself look cool.

Tina finished her speech just before the bell. As it rang, she hurried back to her desk to gather up her books, still avoiding eye contact with Artie. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Artie hadn't moved an inch. Tina turned around, intending to run out the door, but was stopped by Mr. Schuester stepping in front of her.

"Tina, could I talk with you for a few minutes?" he asked. "I'll write you a pass to your next class."

"Sure," said Tina, feeling suddenly worried. "Sorry about all that. M-my stuttering has improved a lot thanks to... speech therapy. But it's still pretty bad when I give presentations and stuff, M-Mr. Schuester." She legitimately stuttered over her teacher's name. Artie scoffed, causing Mr. Schuester to look his way.

"Artie, I'm not writing you a pass."

"Fine, but you should know she's faking that stutter!" Artie blurted out, glaring at Tina. "She's not even in speech therapy. She just does that to get out of speeches. And to make people think she's weird. Isn't that right, Tina?"

"At least I don't lie to make people think I'm cool," she shot back, tears brimming in her eyes again. _When will I ever be able to get mad at Artie without crying like a baby? _Tina was so annoyed with herself as her chin quivered. Mr. Schuester looked back and forth between the two, shocked to see Artie and Tina arguing.

"Once again, Artie. Not writing you a pass. You can go."

"Fine," said Artie again, grabbing his wheels and giving them a furious push. He glanced at Tina once more before turning the corner and getting out of the room. Tina looked away just in time to hide the fact that tears were rolling down her cheeks now. As she choked back sobs, Mr. Schuester hurried across the room.

"Calm down, Tina," he said, retrieving a tissue for her. "I was just going to tell you that I was proud of you for getting through that speech, that's all. I know how difficult it can be with your stutter. Even though, I have to admit, that's the first time I've heard you stutter in a long time."

"Mr. Schue," Tina said, dabbing at her eyes. She took a deep breath because what she was about to say was difficult. But she already regretted what she had just done. "Artie's right. I never really stuttered in the first place. I started doing it a long time ago to get out of giving speeches and stuff. So... if you have to fail me, I understand."

Mr. Schuester handed her another tissue as she continued blubbering. Tina felt like an idiot, but Mr. Schue just smiled kindly at her. "Tina, this is Spanish class, not speech class," he began. "I only grade on whether or not your Spanish is correct. Your speech was just fine. You've earned an A for your grade. Does... does that make you feel any better?"

Tina paused, then shook her head. "No," she admitted. "I mean... thank you for not counting that against me. But I don't feel much better. I faked stuttering again because I wanted to make Artie mad. To get back at him, I guess."

"Yes, I caught on to that," said Mr. Schuester. "Anything you want to talk about? This is my conference period." He sat down on top his desk and folded his hands attentively. "Or, of course, you can talk to Ms. Pillsbury but since you and Artie are both in glee club, maybe I can be of some help?"

Tina knew she was going to have to start at the beginning for this one. The only consolation was that it would get her out of gym class. Tina's whole reason for being angry about Artie's lie was based on principle. Mr. Schuester listened carefully as Tina explained everything, starting with the wheelchair date during which Tina had revealed her own fraudulence. She explained how Artie had forgiven her for that, but things still hadn't seemed the same ever since. Then she explained Artie's deception.

"The worst part is that he looked at me right before he lied to Puck," she concluded. "I might be the only person he ever talked about the car accident with, I don't know. But now someone starts a silly rumor that he hurt himself skiing, and he doesn't think twice about allowing everybody to think it's true. Do _you _think I'm overreacting?"

"No," said Mr. Schuester. He arose from his desk to give Tina a gentle hug around her shoulders. Tina covered her face and mutttered her thanks as he passed her another tissue. "But I do think it would be good for you to talk to your friend, Tina. Find out what's really going on with him."

Tina thanked her teacher one last time before trudging out of the room. As she walked down the empty hallway, she heard the familiar clicking of a wheelchair trailing behind her. She spun around to find herself looking down at a very sheepish Artie.

"Eavesdropping?" Tina approached his chair, hovering over him in an attempt to be intimidating. "How dare you listen to a private conversation! Not to mention, since when do you cut class? Is hanging out with Noah Puckerman rubbing off on you?"

"I'm not _hanging out _with Puck," Artie replied, disdainfully. He did feel guilty about eavesdropping, but he'd been dying to hear what Tina had to say to Mr. Schuester. In spite of how furious she looked now, he couldn't bring himself to feel bad about doing it. It was worth it to find out her true feelings.

"Hear anything interesting?" Tina asked, turning away from Artie. She realized that they were now in the middle of the very same hallway where they'd had their first fight, where she'd revealed the truth about her stuttering. She could just hear him saying it_. "And that's not something I can fake_." Apparently, there _were _some things Artie knew how to fake.

Artie sighed. "Tina, I have to tell you something." Why did _that _sound so familiar?

Tina put her hands on her hips. "What, Artie? What could you possibly say _now?_"

"I- I didn't lie to Puck," he whispered, feeling sick. At the same time, it was strangely liberating to finally make this confession. "I... lied to _you_. I lied the first time you asked me how it happened. There was no car accident. My mom wasn't even there when it happened. I was eight years old... skiing with my family in Colorado."

* * *

Author's Note: You guessed it! (Darn it, you guys are good!)


	3. Más Problemas

"Talked yourself into liking tennis yet?" Mercedes called out, as Tina rounded the corner on her way to gym class. When Tina looked up and Mercedes saw the expression on her friend's face, she knew right away that something _else _must have happened between the two lovebirds. "Oh, no. More drama, hot mama?"

"I can't talk about... " Tina drew in a deep, shaky breath. "... without crying. Is that a tennis racket?"

"No, it's a baseball bat," said Mercedes, giggling and pretending to serve with the racket she was holding. "Hurry up and dress out. You and I are partners, but I want to make sure we don't get stuck playing against Santana and Brittany. I'd much rather play against Suzy Pepper's little sister and that new girl with the head gear."

"Me too," Tina agreed, quickly, hurrying into the girls' locker room to put on her gym clothes. She got away with wearing purple hightop converse sneakers to gym class, even though they hadn't been considered athletic shoes since the seventies. The shoes were the only thing she liked about the outfit. Athletic clothes weren't a good look for her.

In spite of her hurry, she and Mercedes still wound up with Santana and Brittany as partners. They couldn't have looked less evenly matched, with Santana and Brittany wearing their cheerleading warm-up suits and looking all the more intimidating. In glee club practice, the cheerleaders were cordial, sometimes downright nice. Outside of glee club, however, the more popular girls _did _have an image to protect. Tina knew the two Cheerios wouldn't go easy on her and Mercedes.

"Oh, look," said Santana, grinning as she sized up her opponents. "Here come Venus and Serena Williams."

"Where?" Brittany looked around. Santana gave her a withering glare.

It turned out that Mercedes had a fantastic serve. She managed to get a few past Brittany and Santana, but there was no hope for Tina, who considered switching hands just to see if she could somehow play better as a lefty. She might have been slightly less dreadful had her mind been focused on the game. Instead, she replayed the conversation she'd just had with Artie over and over in her mind.

_He lied to me. I didn't even think the word 'lie' was part of his vocabulary. My honest Artie is a liar.  
_

* * *

"Why'd you do it?" Finn wanted to know. He and Artie were lab partners in Biology, a lucky draw for Finn since he was secretly squeamish. He tried to hide the fact that he was really looking away from the specimen - a thick, juicy sheep's eye - as Artie did all the work of disecting the body part himself. Even more disgusting was the fact that, because Artie couldn't sit on the stools in the lab, they'd used a tray mounted on his wheelchair all year for the lab work. If Finn were Artie, he wouldn't have been able to stand having the thing so close to him. Much to Finn's astonishment, Artie wasn't fazed.

Artie speared the eye and held it up on the scalpel, examing every angle. "This is exactly why I never use to tell people anything about my accident," he replied, deliberately not answering Finn's question. "It's just easier _not _to talk about it. If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't have lied to Tina. But then again, she lied at me. I would think that makes us even now, but does Tina see it that way? Oh, no, my lie has to be _so_ much worse than hers."

"Yeah, but you got mad about her lie so now it's her right to get mad, too," Finn pointed out. "Like me and Quinn, in a way. Once I found out that the baby wasn't mine, it made me angry that she'd given me such a hard time about finding a job. It sucked that she made me feel bad about myself for not supporting her and the baby while the whole time, she was lying. Can I borrow that scalpel?"

Finn took the weapon from Artie and gave the sheep's eye a good jab, imagining that it belonged to Noah Puckerman instead.

"Wicked awesome!" Artie remarked.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Finn added, shakily, covering his mouth and gagging slightly over the horrible smell.

Artie watched in amazement as Mr. Team Captain himself ran out of the room, getting sick over a measly, little dissection project. He was sure Finn was embarrassed to be hurling in the hallway. The entire class could hear him gagging and choking, making awful heaving noises the whole time. _I hope he found the trash can_, Artie thought, sympathetically. It reminded him of the time somebody dropped a lunch tray containing clam chowder in his lap. He nearly lost his own lunch over that incident. Seconds later, the entire class could now hear the janitor yelling at Finn. "My mop bucket isn't a trash can!"

* * *

"Let's try this again," instructed Mercedes, positioning herself on the opposite side of the court. Although school was over for the day, she and Tina were back at the tennis courts to get some extra practice. They were already in the loser's bracket of the gym class tournament, but Mercedes was determined not to come in dead last. Tina was less committed than Mercedes. She leaned against the fence, chewing gum, and blew a gigantic pink bubble while studying her tennis racket with a bored expression. Mercedes frowned, putting her hands on her hips.

"Earth to Tina, I said let's try this again," she demanded. "I do _not _want to lose to Brace Face and Spazz Girl tomorrow. I don't like this stupid sport any more than you do, but we can't come in last when we play tomorrow. I don't know about you, but I'd like to have a little dignity before we move on to softball."

"Sorry, Serena," said Tina, smacking her gum. "My heart's not really in it, but I can give it a shot..." She made her best attempt at looking professional in her stance, bouncing back and forth on her feet, preparing to take her first swing. Mercedes through the ball in the air and sent it over the net. _Whoosh! _It went flying past Tina, missing her face by inches, and slammed against the fence. Tina turned to chase after it, and when she did, she discovered that had an audience.

Artie snorted, folding his hands in his lap, as he watched from the other side of the fence. "Next time, you could try swinging," he advised.

"Oh, shut up," she snarled. Behind her, Mercedes made an attempt to gesture to Artie, trying to signal him to cool it. She half expected Tina to leap the fence and take Artie down any minute. Artie seemed thoroughly unconcerned as he sneered at her.

"You're sure your favorite sport is tennis?" he baited her.

"Positive," she snarled.

"But you suck at tennis."

"Well, you suck at skiing."

Artie reacted as though he'd been slapped. Even from the other side of the court, Mercedes could tell that Tina had just pushed him too far with that remark. She knew she'd be on the phone with Kurt later to try to get him to talk some sense into Artie while she dealt with Tina.

"Bitch," said Artie, just loudly enough for Mercedes to hear.

_No going back now, _thought Mercedes, who questioned whether to even get involved in this. She couldn't ever remember a time when Tina and Artie had fought like this. Tina turned around and marched across the court, looking like she wanted to kill someone.

"I don't feel like playing tennis now, Mercedes," she said, not even stopping as she stalked past Mercedes, off the court, and in the direction of the girls' locker room. Mercedes shot Artie a dirty look that said it all. _Look what you did now, Wheels. Was that really necessary?_

"You really screwed up this time," Mercedes told him, in case her Look hadn't quite conveyed the message. "Would it have been so terrible to tell her the truth from the start? I _know _you can't fix what you've done already, but you've got to step up, Artie. Be a man."

Artie laughed, bitterly, "Do you think you could have chosen some other expression besides _step up?"_

"You know what?" Mercedes was fuming as she approached the fence. "Enough. What you're doing is completely uncalled for. You're the one who messed up this time. You should have come clean with your lie when Tina told you _her_ secret. Boy, you're lucky that you're on the other side of that fence right now. I've got half a mind to give you what you've got coming."

"Is that a threat?" Artie rolled forward one full stride, coming closer to the fence that separated him from Mercedes.

Mercedes leaned over so that she and Artie were nose to nose. Through clenched teeth, she said, "If you _ever_ call my friend a 'bitch' again, then you better believe it's a threat, Hot Wheels. Now go on, roll away before you say something else you're gonna regret."

* * *

Tina was fighting tears by the time she left the locker room. She was glad that the hallway was deserted now. Almost everyone had gone home, now that it was nearly 5:00 PM. She didn't even see any custodians in the hall. As she neared the exit, however, she noticed a light coming from an empty classroom. The door was cracked slightly so that the light spilled out into the hallway. Tina could hear someone talking inside of the room. Her interest peaked, she strained to listen.

" ... Alright, son, let's see what you've got!"

Even more curious, Tina peaked around the door. She discovered that the voice was coming from a TV and realized that this room was where the AV club stored all the sound and video equipment. One solitary figure was watching the TV with his back to Tina. When she opened the door to get a better look, the creaking hinges caused the mystery person to turn around. As he did so, he hit pause on the video.

"Jacob!" Tina exclaimed, as the boy eyed her with an unreadable expression on his face.

The corners of Jacob Ben Israel's mouth turned up ever so slightly. "Tina Cohen-Chang," he said, softly. "What a pleasant surprise. You should let your little boyfriend know that he left his tape in the VCR. I'm wondering why he didn't bother to show the rest of it? Or even submit it to America's Funniest Home videos? He didn't even let us see the good stuff in class."

"The good stuff?" Tina echoed, glancing up at the TV to see that the video was, indeed, Artie's ski trip video from his presentation. She returned her eyes back to Jacob, silent but intrigued. He gave a little nod and pressed play again.

The camera zoomed out to reveal Artie at the top of a steep incline. He started to head downhill, picking up speed as he went. Artie looked like a miniature expert, weaving back and forth slightly as he approached another one of the man-made jumps. Without cutting his speed, Artie became airborne once again. But, unlike the first jump, this landing was anything but smooth.

Artie hit the snow on his back, skis and poles flying every which way. His entire body went limp, sliding down the mountain like a rag doll. The camera shook violently and the sound of two people followed, a man shouting and a girl screaming. Tina could hear Artie's father bark an order at Amy to run for help.

"NO!" Tina screamed, as the screen went black.


	4. La Intervención

Author's Note: If I get flamed for the end of this chapter, I'll know my story just jumped the shark! I beg you to stick with me for the next chapter after _this_ cliff hanger! Read on! I hope this chapter is okay. I wrote it on my iPhone's notes, haha.

* * *

"Do you realize what we just saw?" Tina said, slowly, not sure if Jacob had put it all together yet. As she spoke, she could see that the nerd with the Jew 'fro finally did complete the puzzle.

"Whoa..." The wheels in Jacob Ben Israel's head began spinning as a wicked idea took shape. Always a fan of gossip and drama, Jacob wasn't about to let a chance like this go to waste. He said, more to himself than to Tina, "Wonder what people would pay to see the wheelchair kid maim himself?"

"You... you can't do that," Tina protested, horrified by the thought of others seeing the accident. All the anger she had been feeling towards Artie melted away, replaced by the need to make sure that her friend didn't get hurt.

"You expect me to pass up such an excellent opportunity in broadcast journalism?" Jacob approached Tina, looking at her body rather than her face and wearing a rather hungry expression. "Not to mention the profit I could make off tickets and popcorn. Still, I suppose I could be persuaded..."

Tina felt as though she should've seen this coming. Having been warned by Rachel in the past, she knew that Jacob, although basically harmless, was incredibly perverted. And he sure seemed to like the glee club girls.

"What do you want, Jacob?" she asked, impatiently, her eyes following Jacob's gaze. She looked down at her own chest, then back to the disgusting boy still oogling her body. "I'm not letting you see or touch them. Something else."

"You drive a hard bargain, my little Lucy Liu," Jacob crooned. "Very well. How about a trade? I'll take the ones you're wearing right now. I can keep them with Rachel Berry's."

Tina countered with blank stare, wishing desparately that Jacob was only kidding. But Rachel had once been blackmailed out of her panties. It was only a matter of time before Jacob moved on. White boys seemed taken with Asian girls. Even jocks noticed Tina from time to time. And there had once been a time when Tina could scare them away simply by talking.

"Y-you cccan't be serious," Tina replied.

"Cool it, stutterfly, everybody knows you're a fraud," Jacob retorted, not at all reluctant to remind Tina that her days of hiding behind the stutter were long gone. Everyone had found out after she'd confessed to Artie.

"Fine," said Tina, sharply. "Turn around and close your eyes. If I catch you peeking, our deal is off."

Jacob obliged, but Tina acted quickly for fear that he'd turn around again anyway. Luckily, she was wearing her black, flared skirt, giving her easy access to the unmentionables. She couldn't even remember which pair she was wearing until she took them off. "Done," she said, with a sigh when she saw the pair she'd be parting with.

Jacob turned around and grinned, making Tina want to vomit. "Hello Kitty," he purred. "How appropriate." He made to grab for them.

"Not so fast," Tina halted him. "First give me the tape."

"Tina, I'm hurt," Jacob replied, with an exaggerated pout. "You think I'm not an honest broker? Of course I'll keep my end of the bargain." He pushed eject on the VCR and out popped the tape.

"We trade on the count of three," Tina demanded, certain that Jacob wouldn't be an honest broker if given a chance to escape with both her panties and the tape in his possession. "One... two... three!"

The trade went down as promised, though Tina thought she saw a flicker of disappointment in the boy's eyes, and she knew that he'd been hoping to get away with both.

"It's been a pleasure doing business with you," said Jacob, holding up the panties as though they were a prize.

"You make me sick," Tina shot back. She tossed her hair over her shoulder in a huff and got out of there as fast as she could. After what she'd just seen, she wanted to destroy that tape. But it belonged to Artie, and he must've had some reason for keeping it.

And he must've had some reason for lying to her, too.

* * *

Artie had always been indifferent towards Jacob Ben Israel... until now.

He'd once been horrified at the thought of Jacob replacing Finn at Sectionals, swaying in the back, as Ms. Pillsbury had advised. Artie thought, angrily, that there was no way the judges wouldn't take note of that ridiculous hair and end up watching Jacob throughout the performance. But that time, he'd just been annoyed about the circumstances. He'd had no actual reason to be angry at the guy himself, and luckily, Finn arrived at Sectionals just in time to save the day.

But as he watched the jocks crowd around Jacob, who was proudly holding Tina's underwear over his head, hatred for the dumb kid filled his very being. He sat like a statue at his usual lunch table with Kurt and Mercedes, his food completely forgotten.

"I can't believe he's trying to pass those off as Tina's," said Kurt, rolling his eyes. "Hello Kitty is so stereotypically Asian. I can't imagine, not that I would... but I can't imagine Tina would even own a pair of Hello Kitty panties."

"Those_are_hers," Artie mumbled, remembering his lunch and shoveling a bite of mashed potatoes in his mouth as soon as he'd spoken.

"Not even going to ask how you know that, Wheels," Mercedes said, the blush barely visible on her cocoa skin.

"No, no!" Artie's face was blinking like a stoplight. He swallowed his food quickly, trying not to choke. "I mean, you know, she wears low-rise jeans sometimes and when she leans over, the top of her underwear shows a little..."

"Someone take that poor child to Victoria's Secret," Kurt commented, looking at Mercedes to take on this one. As much as he liked shopping with his girlfriends, this was one store he wouldn't visit with them.

"I can't just sit here and let him do this," Artie finally said, unlocking his wheels and backing away from the lunch table. He rolled quickly towards Jacob, who saw him coming and began smiling, which made Artie even angrier.

"No doubt_ you_ recognize these," said Jacob, cheerfully, waving the panties in the air above Artie's head. "But before you tell me to give them back, it might interest you to know how I acquired them. Don't you want to know?"

"No, and I don't care."

"Oh, now," Jacob tossed back his head and laughed loudly. "Don't be ridiculous. Of course you do. I guarantee you, she still thinks she got the better end of the deal."

Before Artie could ask Jacob to explain what he meant, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Tina standing over him. She produced the tape from behind her back and held it up for Artie to see. Immediately, he understood.

"You... you didn't," he replied, feeling ill. But even as he spoke, both Tina and Jacob nodded, confirming what he was thinking. Artie knew better, of course, than to think Tina had actually _done_ something with Jacob. He remembered how Jacob had acquired Rachel Berry's panties.

Tina shrugged. "I didn't do it for you," she said, bitterly. "I did it for the guy I used to know. The honest one. Here, now take better care of this so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands." And with that, she thrust the tape at Artie. He accepted it in silence, not knowing what to say. It didn't matter since Tina wasn't going to give him a chance to say anything. Before he could open his mouth to speak, she was gone again.

* * *

"Guys, listen up," Mr. Schuester clapped his hands and the chatter stopped as the members of New Directions turned their attention to their teacher. "I know we all want to goof off and get a little lazy now that spring break is next week, but remember that when we get back, Regionals is just three weeks away. We need to practice some of our best numbers to see if we've got the material we need to take Regionals. If not, now's the time to brainstorm new ideas."

Kurt raised a hand. "I think the judges are really impressed with a good mash up," he said. "We should take a look at our repertoire to see if any of those songs work well together."

"_True Colors_ and _Proud Mary_?"

"No." The word came from two glee clubbers seated on opposite sides of the room today, as they had been for the past three practices. By now, the whole club was aware of the fight.

Tina stuck her nose in the air. "Those songs don't go together," she said, indignantly.

"Besides, _Proud Mary_ is sung in wheelchairs and _True Colors_ is sung on stools," Artie pointed out. "I can't see either one of them being done any differently."

"Geez," muttered Mike Chang, who had been the one to suggest the mash up in the first place. He slumped in his chair dejectedly. "It was _just_ a suggestion."

"Ignore them," Mercedes told him, glaring at both Artie and Tina. "Mr. Schuester, I hate to break it to you, but we've got to postpone practice today. As a team, we're obligated to hold an intervention for our friends, Artie and Tina."

"Artie, Tina?" Mr. Schuester took notice of the fact that the two friends weren't sitting by each other. They didn't seem to be looking at each other either. In fact, the two were starting in opposite directions, both looking embarrassed to be the center of attention.

Artie was the first to speak. "It's not something I care to discuss in a group."

Tina scoffed. "Yeah, because he doesn't want to admit that he _lied_ to everyone!"

"I didn't lie to _everyone_," Artie shot back, looking at her for the first time since lunch. "You were the only person to ask me how I got in this chair. I mean, until recently, when Puck asked."

"I can't believe you'd tell Puck the truth, but you'd lie to Tina," interrupted Rachel. "She's your best friend, isn't she?"

"_Are_ you still my best friend?"

Artie looked so pitiful as he said this. Tina almost forgot why she was angry. Almost. "You know I am," she hissed. "I just want to know why my best friend calls me a bitch and lies about stupid stuff!"

"Oh, no he _didn't_," Santana was sitting closest to Artie, and she rose from her chair, leaning over him. "That was low, Wheels. I hope she slapped you because if it were me? Ay, Carumba! Este no es mi nombre, hombre!"

"Okay, calm down, Santana," Mr. Schue stepped in quickly, for he could see that Artie was not taking well to being attacked. "I think the point of this intervention is not to side with either Artie or Tina. Although Artie, if you'd care to explain why you lied, I think it might help Tina."

Artie struggled with himself for a moment, looking down at his lap. He could feel their stares and knew he had to say something. But saying anything about the accident was going to cost him a lot.

"Fine," he agreed, because he had no choice. If he didn't tell them his reason, they were all going to go on thinking he was scum for lying to Tina.

"The difference between the car accident, the lie, and the skiing accident, the truth, is simply this: The lie makes it someone else's fault. But the truth is that it was _my_ fault. All my fault."

He glanced up and was instantly sorry that he'd spoken. Thirteen faces stared back at him, pity etched in their expressions. Pity, the worst thing, as far as Artie was concerned.

"Knew I should've lied to Puck, too," he said, unlocking his wheels. Giving them a good shove, he added, "Seeing as I've never stormed out of a practice before, this should be fairly effective. Later, guys."

"Tina, go get him," Mercedes begged, as soon as Artie was out the door. "He feels really bad. You've gotta do something, help the boy." But Tina was already on her feet, running after him.

He hadn't gotten very far before he caught up to him. When he heard her feet hitting the floor, he pivoted and came to a stop.

"Look, Artie, I forgive you," she said, breathlessly, coming to a skidding stop in front of him. "I just wish you would've explained why you lied before. It helps, now that I understand the reason."

"Does it?" Artie asked. He drew in a deep breath, struggling with something else entirely now. He was just so tired of having secrets. It was time to come clean with the rest of it. "Well, then you're going to want me to explain one more thing."

"What?" asked Tina. "What _now_? Going to tell me that you can walk?"

"Not... exactly," he said, looking extremely guilty as he said this. With another sigh, Artie moved his knees and feet ever so slightly. If the first lie had been difficult to explain, this one was going to be darn near impossible.


	5. Pasos Pequeños

"Do that again," Tina commanded him. "I need to be sure I'm not hallucinating because it looked like you just moved your legs. And that makes no sense, Artie, you're paralyzed."

"I _did_ move my legs," Artie said, interpreting her reaction with some difficulty. "But, here, I'll show you again." The knees and feet that Tina had always seen cocked crookedly to the side moved again, resting in a slightly different position for a moment before Artie put them back.

"You never moved your legs before," Tina looked up at his face again, searching for an explanation. "Ever. I once saw you struggling to reach your foot to tie your shoe. But you can move your foot! Why didn't you move it then? Why..." Her anger returned. She stamped her foot and pouted, furious at the lack of reason behind Artie's latest deception. "What possible reason could you have for doing this?"

"Are you going to give me a chance to explain this time?" When he said this, she replied by remaining silent and arching her eyebrows expectantly. Artie continued, hoping nothing he said would set her off again. "Okay, so... here goes. So there's incomplete paralysis and complete paralysis. My injury is incomplete, at the T11 and T12 vertebrae. In basic English, it means I have feeling in some places and not in others. Likewise, I have movement in some places and not in others. It's a lot more complicated than just... being paralyzed."

As she took in all he was telling her, Tina struggled between two emotions, fury and curiosity. Since she was getting just plain tired of yelling at Artie, she settled on asking him more questions. "So, what _can_ you feel?" She put her hands on her hips as she interrogated him.

"This is exactly why I prefer to keep things _simple_," he explained, self-conscious at the way she was studying him now, as though he were something she was about to dissect for a biology class. "Complete paralysis is something everyone can understand, even Brittany. Incomplete paralysis is confusing and messy. I don't want to draw someone a diagram. Would _you _like discussing your lower body with people in great detail?"

"I seem to remember you _volunteering _certain information about your lower body to me once."

Artie cringed at the unsolicited reminder of a time when he had been much, _much _too candid about his remaining abilities. Tina, however, cracked a smile at his reaction. The smile made _him _smile. "Now you're just making fun of me," he complained.

"Well, it was _funny_,_" _Tina pointed out. "It was terribly awkward, but still, funny as hell." The silence that followed this statement further embarrassed Artie. He knew they were both thinking about it, and she was still gawking at his legs, as though waiting for him to start doing high kicks.

"Anything else you want to ask me?" he asked, just to break the silence. "Other than the whole question of what I can and cannot feel, which is just too embarrassing to discuss with a girl, what _else _do you want to know now that you… know?"

Tina remembered that horrible Dakota Stanley that the Cheerios had brought in to choreograph at routines for the glee club. _"Artie, you're cut," _he had said on that dreadful day that he took over. _"You're not trying hard enough." _Tina remembered watching Artie blink in confusion, saying, _"At what?" _The ugly little man had sneered disdainfully as he told him, _"At walking."_

"Would it be ridiculous of me to ask you if you can walk?"

"Tee, I really wouldn't be sitting in this chair all day if I could walk." However, he fidgeted with his gloves, displaying that nervous habit Tina had seen on the day of his speech in Spanish class. "But, I… am a bit more mobile than I let on. In therapy – in therapy only, mind you, and when I practice in my basement – I can use forearm crutches."

Her whole face changed. "Artie, that's _wonderful._"

"I wouldn't go straight to calling it _wonderful,_" said Artie, though he couldn't help but feel cheered up by how pleased Tina looked now. "I mean, I'm luckier than some. I've seen people way worse off, obviously, in rehab and stuff. I really can't think of it as walking, what I do, because it isn't what we you would call functional. It wears me out, and I can't make it more than a hundred feet or so."

"A _hundred_ feet!" She actually clapped her hands, looking giddy at hearing this news. Artie was reminded of his incredibly perky physical therapist from years ago, Tricia. Tricia used to make _such _a big deal out of the _littlest _things that Artie would do. The first time he moved his right foot, she was overcome with joy. Artie would have been happier had he not been eight-years-old, thinking about the state soccer tournament that his team was going to attend without him.

"You know I'm going to have to see this," she gushed, continuing to remind Artie of perky Miss Tricia, who used to give him football stickers for walking on his crutches, which in hindsight, wasn't a terribly intelligent thing to do with a newly paralyzed kid and yet he still liked getting those stupid stickers at the time.

Artie rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know," he said, having seen that one coming. "Alright, fine, Tee. In an attempt to make up for lying to you, I'm inviting you to the freak show. It's tonight at 8:00 in my basement. Be excited or something."

Her eyes danced. "I wouldn't miss it for the world, Artie."

* * *

"Tina, Mercedes, Kurt!" Amy Abrams rattled off their names as soon as she'd flung the door open that afternoon. She smiled and hugged each of them, adding, "What a great surprise! Artie told me you'd be coming, Tina, but I didn't expect to see the two of you."

"We're tagging along," explained Mercedes, looking at Kurt nervously. Neither of them had actually been invited, but when Tina came running back to glee club practice, bursting with excitement, they had to take her aside afterwards and get the full story. Both had been shocked but excited to hear about Artie's latest secret. And both stated that Artie walking with crutches was something they _had _to see for themselves.

"What are you doing home?" Tina asked Amy.

"Spring break," Amy explained, with a laugh. "I know, I'm a lot of fun, hanging out at home instead of going to the beach or something. I wanted to see my family. It's been awhile since my last visit. Too bad Artie's break is next week or else we could've taken a vacation or something."

"Yeah, too bad," agreed Tina. "Where _is_ Artie?"

"In the den. I can't believe he never told you," Amy said, moving aside to allow the three friends to come inside. She shook her head, half in disbelief and half in annoyance as she thought of her little brother. "About the crutches and being an incompletic para, I mean. I _can _believe he told you the car accident lie. He's done _that _before."

"_Really?_" Tina asked, incredulously. She didn't know if it made her feel any better to know that Artie had used this fabricated car accident tale more than once. It was still rather shocking that Noah Puckerman had been the first person to hear the truth, but as Mercedes had wisely pointed out, Puck addressed Artie by his last name, a sacred form of respect in male language. (Kurt insisted that this was nonsense; he would cringe if anyone _ever _called him "Hummel.")

"Really," said Amy, not at all ashamed to spill Artie's secrets while he was out of the room. Artie had yet to appear, and Tina was glad for a moment alone with his older sister so that Amy could be perfectly candid. "When he was ten and I was fourteen, we went to a family reunion. Well, as you can imagine, plenty of people hadn't seen Artie since the accident and lots didn't even know about it. Mom and I walked up on him explaining his situation to one of our great aunts with his car accident lie. We let him get away with it then, but obviously we shouldn't have because he did it again."

"I don't blame him so much, now that I know his reason for making up that story," said Tina, quietly. Mercedes and Kurt nodded their agreement. And afterall, Tina knew plently about living a lie and getting stuck in a web of your own deceptions. It was like that annoying, but accurate old saying: _Oh, what a tangled web we weave..._

Amy scoffed. "You're as bad as my mother," she complained to Tina. "If _I _had lied to my entire extended family, I would have been grounded for a month."

"Yes, but that was back when Mom still felt bad about grounding me." The four people standing in the entry hall jumped, startled by Artie rolling up behind them. Artie took in the sight of not only Tina, but also Mercedes and Kurt, and he looked less than pleased. "My ears were burning just now. Was I being talked about?"

He knew, of course, the answer to this question. He looked at Amy, narrowing his eyes, and she narrowed hers right back at him, copying his glare. They looked strikingly similar. Amy even wore glasses that were a bit like Artie's (but a touch more stylish than his). Her brown hair was very long and was usually pulled back into a ponytail. She wore slightly preppy outfits, too, although nothing as horrible as a button-down shirt and a sweater vest. Artie wasn't dressed in his usual outfit at that particular moment. Instead, he was wearing an Ohio State hoodie and sweatpants, the type of attire Tina had seen him wearing once when he was on his way to see his physical therapist.

"They're here for the show, Artie," Amy replied, ignoring his question since he already knew the answer. "I see you're ready."

Artie looked at Mercedes and Kurt before turning his gaze to Tina. He beckoned her with his index finger, saying, "Tina, can I talk to you in private for a moment? Meet me in the kitchen." Tina glanced at Amy, who rolled her eyes dramatically, before following Artie into the kitchen. When they were out of earshot, Artie pivoted to face Tina, his jaw clenched.

"Tina, I invited _you _to the freak show," he said, tartly. "I didn't say you could sell tickets."

"But-but-but Artie!" Tina sputtered, flustered by his adverse reaction. "Mercedes and Kurt are our _best _friends. C'mon, you can't keep this from them! I understand if you don't want, like, Puck and Santana to know. But at least let your friends be part of this. They _asked _if they could come. I couldn't _not _tell them after you showed me that you could move your legs. And they couldn't help but be just as curious as I was!"

Artie stared at the tile without meeting Tina's eyes. "Seriously, it's not _that _great..." He'd always wanted to do more than just struggle across the room on those crutches. It was frustrating that he couldn't support himself with the crutches well enough to use them all the time. It was true that he took the fact that he could move his limbs for granted. He took for granted the fact that his injury hadn't been higher, hadn't crippled his entire body. Still, he just wanted _more_.

"Please show them too," she begged.

"Okay." He hoped he wouldn't regret this.

* * *

Several minutes later, Tina found herself in the Abrams' basement for the first time. She, Mercedes, Kurt, and Amy used the stairs while Artie rode down in a special elevator that was installed shortly after the accident. Tina knew that the family had coverted the basement that they didn't really need into a ballet studio for Amy, who was very serious about her dancing. There were floor-to-ceiling mirrors on one wall and a barre mounted on another wall. What Artie hadn't told Tina was that the basement also doubled as a room for Artie to do his physical therapy at home. Artie had a bench with a barbell, which he used to improve his upper body strength. There was also chin-up bar and a hand cycle, both exercise machinery that Artie could access.

And there, leaned against the wall, were a pair of forearm crutches. Tina suddenly thought of a freshman girl in their school, Olivia Ortiz, who had been born with spina bifida and used forearm crutches. She was quite good with hers, having used them for most of her life. Tina had even seen Olivia using them to get up and down the stairs, whereas Artie was stuck looking for a ramp wherever he went. (Thankfully, the school had more of them now!) She remembered wishing Artie could be like Olivia.

Artie rolled out of the elevator, looking apprehensive as he took note of the way they were all studying his crutches curiously. "Really, don't be expecting anything too impressive," he warned them. "Don't be expecting me to look like Olivia Ortiz," he added, causing Tina to blush slightly.

"Just show them, Art," said Amy, softly, taking the crutches away from the wall. She handed them to Artie as his three friends backed away towards the mirror to give Artie some room. Amy walked around Artie's chair and got behind him, putting her hands on his waist and preparing to help him stand. Tina actually held her breath, worried that she might see Artie fall. She didn't know what she would do if he fell.

"On three," Artie cued her, as he always did. "One - two - three." With Amy's support, Artie groaned and lifted himself up on the crutches. He stayed there for a moment until he nodded, a signal that Amy could pull the chair out of the way. She stayed behind him, spotting him as she always did, for Artie _had _fallen on several occassions. Artie continued to grunt and groan as he took a step, the enormous effort behind this action made clear by the look on his face.

Tina finally remembered how to breathe. She was clinging to Mercedes for dear life, but Mercedes shook her out of it by applauding suddenly. "You go, Crutch!" called Mercedes, and the use of a new nickname made Artie laugh a bit.

"Not... as fast... on these," said Artie, panting slightly as he took two more steps, looking very focused and serious as he walked, Amy trailing along behind him just in case. He looked at Tina as if to say, _Told you it wasn't that great. _But she could do nothing but beam at him, as though she were watching him sprinting down a track. Because of her wonderful smile, Artie couldn't help but smile through the struggle.

"You're taller than me," Kurt observed. "Why is _everyone_ taller than me?"

Artie kept going until he reached the wall, and Tina was astonished when he turned around to head back to the other wall. But Artie _had_ said he could make it one hundred feet. His groaning subsided a bit, after Amy commented that he sounded like he was giving birth. Only Amy could tease her brother like this, but he just threatened to step on her foot with his crutch and kept on going. The sight of Artie upright and walking with crutches was forever imprinted on Tina's memory. Kurt and Mecedes continued making comments, but Tina stayed silent. Mecedes even teased Artie for having "...a cute lil' butt, now that I've gotten a good look at it." Tina hardly heard her.

Finally, Artie had reached him limit, and Amy was right there with the wheelchair. She eased him down and took the crutches back, propping them against the wall. Artie took off the sweatshirt and tossed it aside, revealing a white t-shirt drenched in sweat. His face was bright red and his hair stuck to his forehead. Amy produced a towel for her brother. She hugged him gingerly, obviously not wanting to partake in his sweatiness.

"Nice job, Art," she said, giving his shoulder a squeeze. "Call me down if you want to do that again," she added, making Artie laugh and shake his head. Once was clearly enough for the moment. Amy grinned at him, waved at the others, and disappeared up the stairs, leaving Artie with his friends.

"So, I'm thinking the next thing we do is tell Mr. Schuester that we've got to do a _crutches_ number," said Kurt, nodding seriously as he stretched his right foot up on the barre and leaned towards it, showing off his feminine flexibility with pride. "Song suggestions?"

"_500 Miles_ by the Proclaimers," Artie quipped, mopping his forehead with the towel.

"_Lean on Me,_" added Mercedes, as Artie laughed appreciately at that one.

As they continued brainstorming various songs for the nonexistant number, Artie realized that he was glad he'd shared his secret abilities with not only Tina, but also Mercedes and Kurt as well. While Mercedes was examining her hair in the mirror and Kurt was doing pirouettes across the floor, Artie got a chance to pull Tina aside. He gestured for her to come down to his level, and when she was leaning over, he pulled her into a tight hug. It felt amazing to hug her again. She reciprocated by pulling him in tighter, and he could tell she was happy to be friends again.

"Thank you," he whispered.


	6. Bésame Mucho

Tina yawned as she stumbled down the familiar, beaten path to school. Now that she and Artie were on good terms again, they would have walked to school together on this particular Friday, but Tina _had _to attend tutoring in the library in order to keep from being completely lost in Pre-Cal. It was 7:30 AM, an unholy hour to be trudging up to school. She wished she were leaning on Artie's wheelchair right now. "Tina," he'd be yelling. "You're sleepwalking behind me. I can tell because I'm_ dragging_ you! Wake up!"

As she sleep-walked her way up the front path, she noticed a familiar site near the flag pole. Some poor boy had already lost all of his clothes, and school wouldn't be starting for another half-hour. That had to be a record, she mused. As she approached, however, something very strange and out-of-place was situated at the bottom of the flag pole. It almost looked like...

Artie paused in the middle of hoisting the clothes up in the air and, noticing Tina, turned to grin at her. "Hi!" He let go of the ropes with one hand to wave, as though there was nothing unusual about this situation. Then, turning his attention back to his task, he began whistling the old glee club favorite, _Don't Stop Believing._

"Er, Artie," said Tina, blankly. "Whose clothes are those?"

"Oh, Jacob's," said Artie, nonchalantly. "Did you know he works out in the weight room before school? I only do because I heard him bragging about it once. He thinks that toned muscles will make up for a that ridiculous hair and a face like a slapped ass."

"I... wow," was all Tina said, shocked to hear Artie talking like this. She watched, completely speechless, as Artie went about finishing his work, still whistling. She felt a smile spread across her face as her sleepy brain woke up and processed Artie's motives behind his misdeed.

"Done!" he announced. "Hurry, let's get out of here!" Artie took off in his wheelchair at record pace, and Tina had to run to catch up. Once they had successfully fled the scene of the crime, he dissolved into laughter, and Tina had to join in. "That - was - awesome!"

Artie parked his chair in the hall and Tina slumped down against the lockers, still giggling. "You did that just because he took my panties?" she replied, aghast and slightly flattered.

"Of course," he said, grinning. "I've been plotting ways to get back at Jacob ever since I saw him in the cafeteria yesterday with your... you know. I got the idea from the jocks, and sadly for them, they'll probably end up getting the blame. It's just as well. Nobody got caught when they did it to _me._ But that's because Finn got my clothes back before anything could really happen."

_Other than Finn seeing me naked, _Artie thought, cringing slightly at the part of the story that he left out. There were times when it was okay to just tell half a story. That didn't make it a lie.

"Oh," said Tina, turning slightly pink. She had never had Artie seek revenge on her behalf before. Although she wasn't sure _she_ would have stolen all Jacob's clothes as revenge for taking only _one_ item of hers, if that was what Artie considered fair, who was she to argue with him?

"I'm glad you're here, though," said Artie. "Why _are _you here?"

"Math tutoring," Tina explained, holding up her book. "Pre-Cal test on Monday."

Artie made a face. "Why are you here for tutoring though?" he asked. "I can help you with that. I'm good at math, remember? And you always say I'm better at explaining it than those know-it-all nerds at the student help desk, right?"

"Oh, yeah... you are," Tina said, feeling a full blush creeping up on her cheeks. The truth was that she wasn't sure if she and Artie really _were _okay. The euphoria created by last night's little miracle (at least, that's what it was in Tina's eyes) was masking the real issues. She _wanted _to trust him again, but now she was waiting for the next of Artie's lies to be unraveled, for the next big secret to be revealed...

"You're still mad, aren't you?" Artie sighed. "I deserve it, Tee. That's partly why I was so determined to get back at Jacob. It was... a peace offering, I guess. I wish I could go back and tell you the truth from the start. That's... that's probably how you felt. And I refused to forgive you."

"We went on, as if nothing was wrong," Tina said, tucking her knees up against her chin and wrapping her arms around them. Until Artie put it that way, verbally affirming her feelings, she hadn't realized that she was so _hurt _by Artie's refusal not only to forgive her, but also by his vain attempt to go on pretending nothing had ever happened between.

"In my mind," said Artie, chewing his lip thoughtfully. "That's how you fix things. You ignore them. I _know _it isn't right, of course. But it was the easiest solution at the time. Now, though, the tables are turned, aren't they? And if you had just gone on, ignored what I did, well..."

"I couldn't exactly ignore it when you moved your legs," said Tina, poking his right foot. "Can you feel _that? _No diagrams, I'm just curious about the foot." When Artie nodded and moved the foot, Tina began to smile again. Artie laughed at this.

"Next time we have issues," he began, looking thoughtful and stroking his chin. "Can I just fix them by moving my foot?"

"Nice try," she retorted, shaking her head. "I do want to know one thing, Arthur Abrams... (Artie winced at the use of his full name, particularly his first name) ... no more secrets?"

"Other than the fact that I'm _still _not going to draw you that diagram of my lower body?" Artie replied, causing Tina to laugh and shake her head again. "Well, maybe just _one _more secret."

"If you stand up and start tap dancing, I'm going to kill you."

"Nothing like that," Artie promised. "But... I'm going to need you to get up off the floor and come up here for this one. It's a _big_ secret, you see, and I wouldn't want anyone else to hear it."

Eyes widening in suspense, Tina got to her feet and leaned over Artie. Sometime in between 3:00 and 4:00 that morning, he had made up his mind to come clean about one more secret. And this time, he wouldn't need video tapes or live demonstrations in his basement. He just needed her face cupped in his hands, her lips on his lips.

This kiss, the first since that date in the hallway, was much deeper and longer than the first. Tina brushed her fingers against his cheek and hovered over him for at least a full count of ten before pulling back and taking a deep, satisfied breath.

"Wow," she breathed, staring at him in amazement. "How did you know that was _my _secret, too?"

Artie opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by screams. Tina searched for the source of the sound and quickly realized that she and Artie were hanging out near the boys' locker room. Her panicked eyes met Artie's amused ones, and they both erupted in a fit of giggles before Artie abruptly suggested that they find another hallway to make out in.

* * *

"Was it you, Finn?" Puck demanded, as he came into glee practice. "Nobody's caught the guy and Coach Tanaka's giving everyone extra laps until they find out who did it! I didn't know he cared so much about that Jacob kid. Apparently, that's his nephew!"

"_Really_?" said Rachel, turning around in her chair to glance up at Puck, innocently. "I'll have to find out if Coach Tanaka is Jewish, too. We could use another sponsor for the Jewish Student Club. I keep wondering why _you _can't make it to the meetings, Noah."

Puck ignored her and went straight to Finn who insisted, "I swear, it wasn't me!"

Artie looked at Tina who remained tight-lipped and smirked ever so slightly. He knew this was one secret they were going to keep between the two of them. The club members spent the last few minutes before the bell discussing the latest drama. Apparently, since nobody had gym class until second period, Jacob wasn't found until then. And _that _was how Principal Figgins discovered that Coach Tanaka had been showing up for work forty-five minutes late all year.

"I'd do the same thing if my conference period was first thing in the morning," Mr. Schuester said, walking in and stopping the conversation with this comment. "Now, please. Glee practice is not the place to gossip about other students _or _faculty. Any new business?"

Artie raised his hand, timidly. "I have new business, Mr. Schuester," he said. "I'd like to come clean about something. It isn't right for me to lie to any of you, even if I'm just doing it to protect myself. The more time I spend with all of you, the more I realize that you're my closest friends. You deserve to know the truth."

"I _knew_ he was gay," said Kurt, winking at Artie.

"Uh, nobody who saw what was going on in the hall at 7:40 this morning would believe that one, Kurt," said Mercedes, grinning at the both of them like a chesire cat. "These two were all over each other."

"Okay, okay, are we gonna let Artie speak?" Mr. Schuester interrupted. "As long as it doesn't involve another storm-out from you, Artie, I'd love to hear it."

Artie smiled, timidly, and then moved his feet ever so slightly while around the room, jaws were dropping. Everyone except Mercedes, Kurt, and Tina stared at him in disbelief. Artie looked nervous, having just displayed the very thing he'd worked to hide. Ever since it occurred to him that _not _explaining the workings of his lower body would be much easier if he simplified it for people, he'd made it a point never to let anyone see his legs move. Sure enough, this _had_ opened the floodgates. The questions came pouring out.

Artie did the only thing he could do: he answered them. Yes, he could feel parts of his lower body. No, he didn't feel comfortable discussing exactly what, thanks very much _Kurt. _No, it didn't just happen, he's been able to move his legs for a long time. No, he's not faking his paralysis for money, very funny _Matt_. The more questions Artie answered, the lighter he felt. He realized that _no one_ other than Tina had ever asked him these kind of questions before. There had always been that line that no one, not even the jocks, dared to cross with him. It had been the elephant in the room. At last, the elephant was no more.

There was just one more matter to discuss. Artie unbuttoned his black, collared button-down dress shirt. Underneath, he wore a plain grey t-shirt. He had also worn his jeans today, prepared to do his little demonstration. Tina, who hadn't known about this before, was wide-eyed in disbelief. She didn't know where Artie suddenly got the nerve to spill his deep, dark secrets.

"I dropped them off here this morning," he said to Tina. "They're in the storage closest, can you get them? And... can you spot me? You saw Amy do it, it's simple."

Wordlessly, Tina nodded and went to the closet to retrieve the pair of crutches she'd seen in his basement the previous night. As she did so, she heard Mercedes mutter something to Kurt about "coming out of the closet." Kurt giggled at that, and so did Mercedes. Everyone else, however, was too stunned by the next part of Artie's revelation to say a word.

"Changed your mind about _the freak show_, then?" Tina whispered, as she presented him with his crutches. He smiled up at her and nodded.

"Thanks to you," he said. She smiled.

Tina tried to remember everything she had seen Artie and Amy do the previous night. She wished he would have prepared her in advance, but in a way, it was a nice surprise. (Just like seeing him send Jacob Bin Israel's clothes up the flag pole as his own personal form of revenge on Tina's behalf had been nice, too.)

"Not going to walk as far as last night," he said, under his breath. "I don't want to become the human sweat factory again. On three, ready?" He and Tina counted, and she supported his waist as he stood.

Once again, he took his slow, laborious steps, this time amid cheering from the entire glee club. He smiled even brighter than he had the previous night and didn't seem to be panting nearly as hard. When he signaled her, Tina grabbed the chair and eased him down again after he'd gone three-quarters of the way across the room. As Artie stared up at the faces around him, it was clear he hadn't expected this reaction. Quinn Fabray was crying. Puck walked up and gave Artie a fist bump, indicating his approval.

"Sorry I never told you guys before," said Artie, catching his breath much more quickly this time around. "It made sense, at the time, to simplify it for people, but maybe that wasn't giving you guys enough credit. Lying definitely wasn't the answer. I know I hurt people with my lies - " He looked at Tina. " - And for that, I'm really sorry."

"Quit apologizing," said Tina, pulling his chair by the handles to situate him in the middle of the group. She took the seat next to him and brushed his hand with hers. Artie took hold of it, a very public demonstration of his affection. "We're even now."

"Technically, Artie told _two _lies," said Kurt, grinning maliciously. "So, no, you're not even."

"Oh, right," said Tina. "Well, then, Artie - I don't like you a bit. I'm just not attracted to you at all so I don't think it's going to work out." She gave his hand a squeeze. "There. _Now _we're even."

"Hallelujah, praise the Lord!" exclaimed Mercedes, jumping up and doing a dance in front of her seat. "Praise the _Lord! _It's about time."

_El Fin_

* * *

A/N: This is the _best _fandom to write for and you guys are the most fabulous readers. Thanks for sticking with me! I'll try to come back with something new soon!


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